Dark Conspiracies
by shadowwriter01
Summary: Sequel to "The hidden memories" This story place in the alternate reality that was created in the story "Divergence". Palpatine was killed by Anakin at the end of the Clone Wars and the Empire doesn t exist in this world. The spirit of Exar Kun however had escaped from Yavin 4 and is since then hiding somewhere in the galaxy. Now three years later the Sith seemed to have returned.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Star Wars belongs to George Lucas (and recently Disney)

This story place in the alternate reality that was created in the story "Divergence".

Palpatine was killed by Anakin at the end of the Clone Wars and the Empire doesn´t exist in this world. Years later however the spirit of Exar Kun escaped from Yavin 4 and is since then hiding somewhere in the galaxy.

* * *

**Dark Conspiracies  
**

**Chapter 1  
**

It was 19 standard-years after the end of the Clone Wars. For the most thinking creatures this special date meant absolutely nothing.

But for one it had a very special meaning.

For Anakin Skywalker it was the date of the destruction of Alderaan.

He was one of the only two beings in existence who had any exact knowledge of the events that happened in the other reality, where Palpatine had succeeded in taking over the galaxy and where everybody fell under the rule of the so called Galactic Empire, followed by the Galactic Civil-War. There were also other things like the Yuzhan Vong Invasion or the destruction of Carida and Darth Vader.

He was one of the few who were aware that this other reality even existed.

In this world at least the galaxy was at peace and he would do everything to help for it to stay this way.

His greatest problem however was that he didn´t know about the other one who shared his knowledge about the other time-line.

xxx

At the moment Anakin and his Padawan were on a mission to the Outer Rim world Klatooine.

A few days ago a diplomat and three of his guards had been murdered on this planet by an assassin seemingly using a lightsaber.

He and Shira had been send by the Jedi Order to investigate. As he found out Klatooine was very similar to his home-world Tatooine, both were desert-planets in the Outer Rim, both were part of the Kessel Run and both were controlled by the hutts.

In short he hated it here. He was glad that they would return to Coruscant very soon.

They were currently walking through a market place on their way back to the space port.

So far they couldn´t find out much except that the murderer had obviously already left the planet and that the weapon had actually been a lightsaber, that meant is was either a renegade Jedi or someone connected to the being they had been searching for the last three years.

While they were here, Luke, Mace Windu and Mara Jade were in a different star-system on a similar mission.

In the last months there had been a line of crimes and suspicious activities committed by people who seemed to be Jedi. This could mean that Exar Kun was finally starting to get active.

It was over three years ago now that his spirit had managed to escape from the Yavin system. But since then neither the Republic or the Jedi Order had heard of him.

"Master", his Padawan asked him, "do you think Luke and the others will already be back on Coruscant?"

"It is hard to say. We don´t know if their mission had brought any better results than ours."

Shira was one of the few persons he had told details about the other time-line, partly as a sign of trust between master and Padawan, partly, he didn´t know, maybe because it was the will of the force or maybe just because he needed it for himself.

After finding out what happened to her other self she was of course horrified.

She was his apprentice, not only in this world but also the other, Anakin Skywalker and Shira Brie, Darth Vader and Lumiya.

He also remembered the other apprentice of Vader, Galen Marek, a boy Palpatine had forced him to abduct and to raise him into a living weapon. In the end the emperor was even willing to use the young man in an attempt to replace his other self as his apprentice. He was also one of the few who had ever managed to defeat Darth Vader in a dual.

The only difference was that Galen was still with his father, because of the reforms after the end of The Clone Wars the Jedi was able to raise and train his son by himself. Anakin was keeping an eye on the boy from time to time.

Shira on the other hand had nobody beside him. Her family had died years ago. Maybe that had been the way her other self had fallen under the influence of the empire in the first place.

They had arrived back at their ship.

One of the few things this Shira Brie had in common with Lumiya, besides her obvious attraction to his son, was that she had started to train with the lightwhip, much to the annoyance of some of the Jedi masters who disapproved of the unconventional weapon. Anakin had actually laughed when he heard about this.

As they came on board he saw that the ship had received a communication. He saw that it came from Leia.

His daughter´s holographic picture appeared as he activated the message.

"Father", it began to speak, "something terrible has happened. You have to return to Coruscant now. Master Windu and Mara Jade have returned from their mission from the Kamianio system. But Luke, Luke is not with them."

Anakin felt cold fear coming from her words. He knew it was possible the Luke just got distracted somehow and separated from the others. But he felt there was something more, something bad.

"That is not everything," Leia continued. "Mara and Windu, they are reporting that Luke has fallen to the dark side."

xxxxxxx

_Coruscant, Jedi Council chambers, two days later_

The twelve masters who were currently forming the Jedi Council were sitting in their chairs. That included Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu and the Grand Master Yoda, Master Shaak Ti, Cin Drallig, and several others.

Also present was Padme "Amidala" Naberrie, the current Chancellor of the Republic. In the moment however she was here for the simple reason that she was the mother of Luke Skywalker, the man this meeting was about.

"Padawan Jade," Master Yoda addressed the red haired young woman ",telling us about what happened at your last mission we want you to."

His eccentric speech-pattern were generally accepted as a part who he was. Of course there was no reason why a over 800 years old Jedi Master wouldn´t be able to speak correct basic and there were other members of his species who were speaking normal.

The most master had come to the conclusion that he was doing it on purpose as some sort of lesson for younger Jedi, to remind them that it was more important what was being said instead of how.

"It was Luke," Mara Jade said ", he has turned to the dark side, he was attacking me."

"That is impossible, " Shira shouted at her, loosing her temper ", he would never do that, you know that as good as me."

"I was thinking the same way," she replied ", but how do you explain this."

Mara lifted her right hand and showed the mechanical replacement for her hand, where a lightsaber had cut it off a few days ago. It was looking very similar to Anakin´s own prosthesis before the artificial skin had been attached.

"Calm down you should, both of you," Master Yoda told them. "Tell us what exactly happened you have to Mara Jade."

After a few seconds of taking breath she began her report.

"Master Windu, Knight Skywalker and me were following the information that someone was performing illegal cloning-experiments in the Outer Rim territory. Our research led us to the Kamianio system in the sector where Kamino is located. The similarity of the names is not a coincidence, it was once a colony of the same species.

By a few witness accounts we have been told that a man was involved who was carrying a lightsaber. We thought that we had finally found a lead to Exar Kun. But you already know this," she said.

The masters and Padme were all listening to her report.

Anakin remembered how his wive had welcomed him under tears after she had heard what supposedly had happened. She was falling into his arms crying as he had arrived back on Coruscant.

Luke Skywalker had just ended his trials a few months ago. With that he was the youngest Jedi Knight in history, even younger than Anakin himself had been. Nobody in the room wanted to believe that he fell this quickly and seemingly for no reason.

"As we arrived in the system we have found what we were searching for," Mara continued. "It was a secret clone-factory, full of half-grown bodies. After we had entered the building we were attacked by a number of battle-droids who were guarding the lab and were separated. And then..."

xxx

_Kamianio four days earlier_

Mara was lurking with drawn lightsaber through the labs. All around her were cloning-tubes hanging from the roof, some empty, some filled with life-less humanoid figures.

She could feel a dark presence close to her.

At the same time she heard someone walking. Someone else was here with her.

As she saw the person coming from behind one of the tubes she relaxed, it was only Luke.

"Mara Jade," he said. His voice was cold, as if he barely recognized her.

"Luke?" she asked.

"Yes Mara?"

"What is with you?"

"It is everything okay Mara. Come to me." He held out his hand and smiled.

His behavior was strange, sure and she could feel the dark presence coming from him.

"No," she told him.

He activated his lightsaber.

"You should come with me Mara."

"Luke why are you doing this?"

"I have opened my eyes, I have seen my true potential, everything the Jedi have been holding from us. I know you have feelings for me Mara. You should join me, become my apprentice."

"Luke that isn´t you," she said horrified.

"I see," he replied, "then this is your decision.

She could barely defend herself. He was a better lightsaber dualist and far more powerful in the force.

After less than two minutes she felt his blade cut through her arm and she knew that the entire time he had only been toying with her.

"I will spare you this time Jedi," he told her, "I hope the next time you will make a wiser decision."

xxx

_In the present_

"That was exactly what happened," Mara finished her recap. She was barely able to suppress the horror of the memories.

"That can not be true," Padme said.

Anakin was thinking. He knew deep down that this couldn´t be true, he knew somehow this had to be the work of the Sith.

xxxxxxx

At the same time inside a fortress on an unnamed planet in the unknown regions of the galaxy a lone Jedi was being held prisoner while a Sith Lord was preparing the realization of his plans.

The Jedi remembered how the Sith had told him that nobody would be come looking for him. He remembered how the Sith had shown him the severed hand of his friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2  
**

_Anakin and Padme Skywalker´s appartment on Coruscant_

"I can not belief this Anakin," Padme said. "Luke would never do something like this, this is not possible."

"I know," he answered.

He had a feeling, a strong feeling that they were missing something, something that they should have seen.

_"You are a good person Anakin, don´t do this." _The image flashed through his mind.

Padme´s confrontation with Darth Vader. Deep down Anakin knew she had probably said the same things about him in the other life.

Despite that was the fact that Luke was not like Vader. He had resisted Palpatine´s temptations more than once.

His son in this reality could not be that different, he couldn´t.

There had to be a explanation for what had happened, somewhere there has to be.

xxxxxxx

_Thousands of light-years away_

For the last week the Jedi Luke Skywalker had been a prisoner in the dungeons of the mysterious fortress in the unknown regions.

His jailer was a Sith, to his surprise and horror however he had seen that this Sith was a exact mirror image of himself.

He remembered how he had seen the other come into his cell the first time, wearing an copy of his Jedi robes and telling him about what happened to Mara.

The Jedi thought that he had fallen to the dark side. Nobody would search for him and when then only to arrest him and nobody would expect to find him in a cell.

For all of them he would be this Dark Lord, the Sith Exar Kun.

He thought about his family. Would they believe the same thing to or would they be able to look through the deception? He certainly hoped so.

Kun had actually explained it to him. A small bit of blood from a wound he had received years ago on Yavin 4 was the basis of this new body, a clone.

But different from the one they knew, a mindless husk created to inhabit the mind of the ancient Dark Lord.

It was actually quite simple and somehow he feared for exactly this reason would nobody figure it out. Who would even consider something like that?

He knew that Kun would most likely continue to execute whatever plans he had and as things were the Republic would most likely blame him for it.

Luke knew he had to find a way to escape.

He had also asked himself why he was even still alive. If Kun wanted to slip into his role, what was better to get rid of the original. The only explanation he could find was something that unsettled him anymore. His mother was the Chancellor.

If Exar Kun´s plans didn´t work out as he had expected, would Luke then end up being used as a hostage, as a bargaining chip against the Republic and his own parents? One reason more to get out of here.

xxxxxxx

_Coruscant, Jedi Council chambers_

The masters were debating about the current situation. Some of them didn´t quite know what to think while others had a clear opinion.

"It can not be Luke," Anakin said.

"My Padawan has identified him," Mace Windu reminded the other master.

"Maybe she was mistaken. It could have been some kind of deception. You said yourself it was some kind of clone-lab, maybe it has been a clone."

Windu thought about this.

xxx

At the outside a similar discussion was taking place.

"Mara," Leia Skywalker addressed the other girl, "you claimed that it was my brother who was responsible for your injuries."

"I didn´t want to believe it myself but I know what I saw," she responded after a short moment of hesitation.

Leia and Mara were both Jedi Padawan at the brink to knighthood, they were trained to trust their senses.

"Are you absolute sure? I mean is there any chance that it was, I don´t know, a clone or an illusion."

"Oh Leia, I wish it was," Mara answered.

xxx

"If it were a clone, were would they had the genetic material from and when would there have been time for the clone to grow?" Mace Windu argued.

"It could have been planned long beforehand. They might have taken a sample years ago. Even if it was not really a clone, it could have been some sort of fraud of the Dark Side. If the one is responsible who we are thinking about it could be possible," Anakin replied.

"Yes, possible it might be. But not sure it is. Drawn many Jedi to the Dark Side Exar Kun had in the past," Master Yoda reminded him. "Your judgement in this question clouded it is. That your son is innocent you wish and every other side you ignore."

"Of course I wish that," Anakin admitted. He felt a mixture of resignation and anger. Every word the ancient Jedi Master just said was true but he still did not want to accept even the possibility.

"But you are right Master Yoda," he said.

xxxxxxx

_The Fortress in the Unknown Regions_

"Are the troops ready for the departure?" Exar Kun asked his right hand.

"They have boarded the ship and are ready for the start," the Dark Side Acolyte Jerec answered.

"Very good."

Kun knew he couldn´t trust this man. In the other time-line he had been one of the subordinates of Palpatine and just like here he had been plotting against him. It had also been this memories of the other world that had pointed him to Jerec as a Sith candidate in the first place.

He was power-hungry, malevolent and conniving. While in many ways this were characteristics of a great Sith Apprentice, Kun was aware that he was placing his personal ambitions above their goals and that it was only a question of time until he would betray him and that possible on coast of their plans.

It was possibly time to get rid of him and find a way to get a replacement.

The thought of actually turning Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side and making him his true apprentice had crossed his mind. But then he had rejected it as being too risky.

It was nearly a base instinct for a Sith to look for an apprentice as powerful as possible, Exar Kun himself was no exception. But that always also meant the the apprentice could become a threat to the master. He remembered all too well what trusting Ulic had brought to him.

It was a risk that he wouldn´t take right now, not with his plans in the motion.

The kidnapping of Skywalker and his plot to make it seem as if he had turned to the Dark Side was only meant as a distraction while he was following his other plans. It was only meant to be temporally. The mere idea that the son of the chancellor and the most powerful Jedi Master might have turned could occupy the republic for a while.

Luke Skywalker would only live as long as he could serve as a leverage against his parents.

* * *

Side notes: That Exar Kun would use a clone of Luke as his body was already hinted in the end of the last story.

With the reference to Ulic Kun was thinking about how his apprentice had led the Jedi to his base on Yavin 4, what led to his first downfall.


End file.
